A/N – Here you go guys, the next chapter finally, we are sorry it took so long and hope you enjoy this.

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter

I sat on top of my trunk on my trolley and tried not to make another sarcastic comment at a member of my family. Ever since Christmas I had been losing my patience with them on a regular basis and since Scorpius went home two days before New Year's Eve, my temper had been extremely short.

Of course, it didn't help that my family had decided to stand with the Scamanders and since the Goyles nor the Malfoy's had made an appearance just yet, I had nowhere else to go.

I openly scowled and glared when Amy Wilson came over to my family after she watched her parents leave through the stone wall.

"Rose, please be good this term." Mum pulled me up from my trunk so she could try to smooth out my appearance. I turned my glare to her but she didn't look away like she normally did whenever I would glare at her. This time she just pushed my hair out of my face and tried to wipe some of my make up off of my face by licking her thumb. I pushed her arm away.

Amy, Albus and a couple others of my cousins chuckled when she tried to wipe my make up away so I turned my glare back to them.

"Something funny, Wilson? Come on; give me a reason to smack that stupid grin off of your face." I sneered at her.

"Rose!" Dad barked at me sharply.

"Rose, I am warning you. Any more trouble this term and you are out of that school -"

"And what Daddy?" I scowled at him, ignoring the tut's and sniffs from my aunts and uncles. "Going to lock me in my room until I'm seventeen? Going to send me to France?"

"I'll send you to America if that means I'll get rid of this snotty little ungrateful brat and my little girl I sent off to school five years ago will come back." Dad snapped back.

I felt myself flush red for a minute and I didn't know what to say; sure my parents had yelled and screamed at me before. . .but they hadn't called me something like that. I've overheard my aunts and uncles calling me names like that, but never my parents. I would never have guessed my father would call me something like that either.

Fortunately, I was saved from replying because Lily started grinning and waving at somebody behind us and that caught the attention of most of the family.

Vinnie, Ivy and Greg joined my family. Vinnie went over to Lily and hugged her tightly. Ivy came to stand beside me and she too looked as if she was ready to kill somebody.

"Oh dear . . . looks like we've all got trouble on our hands." Greg sighed when he saw my glare - which I forced into my filthiest, directed at my parents.

"You don't need to be here." Ivy snapped at her Dad. "We can get on a train by ourselves. Go on." I saw all of the adults in my family exchange cautious glances with each other at Ivy's snap to her father. I knew what they were thinking; the brief snippets of moments that they had seen with Greg and his children had been that of a close, trusting bond between father and children. This was a reflection of my relationship with my parents.

"I'm going to see the two of you off, Ivy. Besides, I'd like a word with Mrs and Mrs. Weasley and Draco and Astoria before they all leave." Greg told his daughter in a stressed voice.

Ivy turned a nasty glare of her own to her father and sat down on my trunk since we still had another twenty minutes until the train left. We would have gotten on to the train but our trunks were so heavy we needed the guys to carry them on for us.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked Ivy, sitting down beside her.

She glanced at me before she took a long look around my family and stopped at where Vinnie was standing with Lily, her brothers, Amy and Dominique.

"I'll tell you later." she muttered. "What's wrong with you?"

I looked back to my Dad, who was talking with Greg and my mother very quietly and then I took a look around my family. My stomach did somersaults when I saw the platinum blonde hairs of Scorpius and his parents heading towards us. My somersaults turned into a dead weight when Roxanne hurried towards him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'll tell you later."

Ivy scowled over at her brother and Lily and I scowled at Roxanne and Scorpius until the two of them came over to join us.

"Miss me Rosie?" Scorpius smirked down at me when he and Roxanne stopped in front of my trolley.

"Tons." I forced myself to smirk back up at him. I stood from my trunk and nodded down to it. "Come on, it won't get itself on the train."

Scorpius laughed once but then he dropped Roxanne's hand and picked my trolley up.

"We're sitting alone. We only need a small compartment." Ivy told Scorpius who nodded once and grabbed hers with his other hand.

I bit the inside of my cheek when I saw the muscles in his arm tense at the weight of the two heavy trunks but he effortlessly carried them both on to the train. I followed him with my gaze but when Ivy discreetly kicked me I turned to see my mother, Lily, Astoria, aunt Ginny and Vinnie all looking at me curiously. Astoria and my mother exchanged a glance and then looked at their respective children.

I looked back at Ivy and saw her look at me with a bit of a raised eyebrow.

"Come on, let's get on the train." I muttered. "See you in June." I called to my parents, not bothering to hug or kiss them goodbye.

"I'll see you on Sunday, Rosie." Mum called after me.

Ivy didn't even bother to say goodbye to her father, or even Astoria who she always saw as a mother.

For the first two hours of the train journey, Ivy and I sat in a comfortable silence. The two of us calmed down from our own bad moods . . . and bought most of the trolley. I took a trip to the bathroom before the trolley came and I noticed Albus, Amy and a couple other of my family sitting with most of the fifth year Gryffindors two compartments down and I knew Albus loved liquorice wands so when the trolley lady came, I bought all of them.

"So, you and Scorpius had sex, huh?" Ivy spoke first when she finished reading her book and slipped it back into her bag.

"Yup." I nodded slowly. I put my feet up on the chair next to me and spread out. Ivy did the same.

"And?"

"Hurt like hell."

"Worth it?"

"Definitely. Victoire put me on this potion though."

"Did she say anything about the two of you?"

"Nope, we kissed again on Christmas night." I told her casually. "And on Boxing Day. . .and basically every day until he left for home a few days before New Year."

Ivy grinned and shook her head before she spoke.

"Not that I care, but what are you doing about Foxy?"

I felt a familiar pang of guilt hit my gut whenever I thought of Roxanne. Not the way she is now, the way she was when we were younger. The happy, carefree Roxanne. Not the selfish, jealous, clingy Roxanne.

"Roxanne isn't my concern. I owe her nothing. Scorpius is the one who should feel guilty about her." I muttered. I reached down into my bag and pulled out my cloak. Pulling it over me I folded my arms and used them as a pillow.

"I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when it's time to put our robes on." I turned to my back was to her, not wanting to see the knowing look in her eye that told me she knew as well as I did that Iwas the one who felt guilt over my estranged cousin.

Ivy stayed in her little mood for a couple of days. Sometimes she would be in a good enough mood that everybody could bare to be around her and other times there was only me who would stick with her while she glared and sometimes screamed at people for no apparent reason.

Sometimes though, even I was reaching my limit with her.

The first Monday after we returned to school, the two of us were sitting at the Slytherin table eating breakfast when we had our first argument since we were twelve years old.

I was just reaching across for the cereal when a group of seventh year girls walked past and accidentally hit me with one of their bags. I waved it off but Ivy stood from her chair and lobbed a piece of toast at them.

The entire Slytherin table stopped talking and all sucked in one breathe.

"What the hell?" Clarissa Pritchard screeched, picking the buttered toast out of her hair and feeling the sticky topping in her jet black hair. "I am going to rip out every strand of your hair, Goyle!"

Ivy laughed in her face, which only made Clarissa even madder. Just as she was about to step forwards to punch Ivy, the head boy appeared. David Sanderson, a Ravenclaw, was also Clarissa's boyfriend and he whispered something in her ear which either calmed her down or turned her on because she allowed him to lead her from the hall.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I hissed at Ivy when she sat back down and flipped Clarissa's two friends off. "They willbeat the crap out of you and the way you're going lately, I won't stop them!" I slammed my bowl down on the table forcefully, grabbed my bag and stormed away from her.

The problem with that reaction is . . . I don't have many friends. Most of the fifth years only speak to me if I'm with Scorpius or a Goyle twin and the sixth years are nowhere to be seen.

I heard a laugh coming from the only cousin I was speaking too on the other side of the hall.

If I wasn't so hungry I'd have went straight to Defence and not bothered with breakfast . . . but my stomach actually felt like my throat had been sliced open.

I sighed but headed over to the Gryffindor table anyway. They all silenced when I walked over to them.

"Relax; I'm not here to start a fight. I'm hungry and Ivy's being a bitch." I scowled and sat beside Lily, opposite Hugo, Dominique and Albus.

"Vinnie and Scorpius are joining us anyway Rosie, you'll be alright." Lily joked when we both felt heavy glares heading my way. Sure enough, as soon as she said that, Scorpius and Vinnie came into the hall with Roxanne holding Scorpius' hand.

Vinnie came to sit on Lily's other side and just as I anticipated, Scorpius sat down on my other side. With Roxanne having put him in the middle of us.

I gritted my teeth, grabbed a bowl and snatched the closest box of my favourite chocolate covered cereal.

I went for a jug of chocolate milk but felt my hand brush against somebody else's.

"You can use it first." Hugo offered awkwardly. Apart from our brief conversation on Christmas Eve morning, we hadn't spoken much over the Christmas holidays.

I picked the jug up and pulled his bowl closer to me so I could pour it in for him. I laughed once when I saw that he too had the same chocolate cereal that I had.

"Chocolate on chocolate for breakfast. So nutritional." Albus sighed and shook his head.

"Shut up Albus." Hugo and I both said at the same time.

I didn't speak to Ivy at all for the rest of the day - not that she cared. She didn't even bother showing up for her classes.

Since Ivy decided to bail on all her classes and I had no other friends, it meant I had to stick by Vinnie and Scorpius' sides all day. I sat in between them during class, either ignoring when they started talking about the useless dribble sixteen year old boys love to talk about, or boring them with what I would normally talk to Ivy about.

A couple of times Scorpius accidentally brushed his hand against mine under the table and he kept it there.

"What's the plan for tonight?" Scorpius asked the two of us while we were setting our potions up. The last lesson of the day and Ivy hadn't even bothered to turn up at break times or lunch - she wasn't even in our dormitory.

"We're bringing Foxy and Lily down to the common room -"

"What? Why?" I groaned and pulled the boys' potions ingredients over to my section of the table so I could measure them out correctly for them.

"Because Roxanne wants to study with me." Scorpius shrugged and filled my cauldron with water from his wand.

"And Lily wants to make out." Vinnie told me honestly.

I rolled my eyes and forced the image of Vinnie molesting my fourteen year old cousin out of my head.

We didn't say anything after that. The three of us just worked on our potions in silence, with me giving the boys help when they didn't even know they needed it. Towards the middle of the lesson though Professor Urquhart came over to ask about Ivy but when the three of us lied and said she was ill in unison, he seemed to believe us and stopped asking.

"Oh, Rose? We want you to up your tutoring sessions to four times a week. It seems your students still aren't grasping the concept of OWL level potions." Urquhart then growled in frustration when Dominique's voice carried around the classroom.

"Sir . . . I've broken my cauldron again."

Vinnie and Scorpius started laughing but I rolled my eyes and sighed; out of the cousins in my year, Dom is the least hostile but by far the most useless when it comes to Potions. Even in the tutoring sessions whenever she seems to be making progress there is always something to hinder it. Either a melted cauldron, a frozen sample or an exploding potion.

"Weasely, Goyle, I thought you two should know. . .Ivy was seen in the Common Room burning some sixth year guys school books." Janey Parkinson muttered when she walked past our table to get to the store cupboard.

I groaned the same time Scorpius did but Vinnie didn't say or do anything.

"She can look after herself." he shrugged when Scorpius and I both looked at him.

"What? She's sixteen, a big girl. After what she did over Christmas I'm past caring about her. She can handle her own problems herself, like she reminded me." Vinnie muttered and sliced his dragons liver so forcefully the thing exploded green blood all over the desk.

"What happened?" Scorpius asked as the two of us cleaned up his mess.

Vinnie looked around the room and shook his head.

Scorpius and I knew he would tell us as soon as he had a chance so we waited until the lesson was finished until we practically took him by his arms to the common room and then up to his dormitory. I scanned the common room for Ivy but she wasn't there. The fireplace was still burning through a copy of A History of Magic, though.

I ignored the part of my mind that flashed back what happened the last time I was in this dormitory and focused on Vinnie.

Scorpius and I sat on Scorpius' bed. He must have been remembering what happened last time we were on this bed too because he wouldn't touch me.

"Alright . . . at Grandma Eileen's, well she had this friend who was like a sister and she had stuff in the will too. This friend had died so her daughter inherited it. Her daughter was a bit older than Dad and had a son our age." Vinnie glared at the ground as he spoke. "And it was clear he and Ivy liked each other. Flirted non-stop. Anyway. . .one night at dinner Dad and Monica, the woman, noticed Ivy and Justin weren't at the table so Dad went looking for them."

I knew what was coming and looked at Scorpius. Judging from the look on his face, he knew what was coming too.

"Dad found Justin on top of his naked teenage daughter. They didn't even bother to lock the bedroom door." Vinnie got up and kicked Scorpius' bed harshly.

I exchanged another look with Scorpius and saw my own surprise mirrored on his face.

"What did your Dad do?" Scorpius asked.

"Pulled the kid off of her. I punched Justin and then his Mum got him the hell out of there. Dad screamed at Ivy but she just got dressed and shut the door in his face. We came home the next day . . . and she went to a week of parties. She'd come home at dawn, sleep and then leave." Vinnie scowled and pulled his robe and school uniform off. "I told her to take it easy but she wouldn't have it."

"When exactly did the two of you get back?" I frowned and mentally counted days.

"Two days after Christmas." Vinnie pulled a jumper over his head and a pair of jeans over his underwear.

"Why the hell didn't you guys ask us for help?" Scorpius asked.

Vinnie didn't say anything as he pulled a coat on and walked over to the doorway.

"Because Dad doesn't want to admit his daughter is well on her way to becoming a drunken whore."

He left at that, leaving me and Scorpius to sit on his bed and think over the change that our best friend was going through.

I pulled my sketch pad out of my bag and began drawing a sketch of Lily flying through the air, catching the quaffle James was throwing from the hoops.

Scorpius and Vinnie dragged me down to the Quidditch stadium to watch the Gryffindor's practice since they'd be meeting their girlfriends after the match.

"Wow, you're really good." Scorpius' voice surprised me. Instead of watching Roxanne smack bludgers towards the rest of the team, he was looking down to see what I was drawing. "I like how everything is in grey apart from her eyes and her hair." Scorpius mentioned, pointing to the brown and red on the page that showed Lily's best features, her beautiful brown eyes and long red locks.

"Have you done me?" Scorpius asked.

"Yep. Christmas Eve." I joked before I realised and laughed when he did.

Scorpius opened his mouth to say something but a voice cut him off.

"I'm sorry." we both looked up from my sketchpad to see Ivy standing in front of us, lowered by a few stands. "I shouldn't have started a fight with Clarissa this morning. She'd have beat both of us up if her boyfriend hadn't had been there."

I looked to Scorpius and back to Ivy once before I smiled at her.

"It's fine. I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." I shrugged a shoulder. Ivy grinned up at me and came to sit on my other side.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" she grinned and nodded to Scorpius and me wickedly.

I rolled my eyes as Scorpius just scowled sarcastically and got up to go sit with Vinnie and some of the other Gryffindor's.

Ivy and I sat in a comfortable silence, I drew and she watched the practice.

"I dare you to draw me a picture of Scorpius' dick." Ivy broke the silence about a half hour later. I burst out laughing and couldn't help but look farther down the stands to where Scorpius and the others were looking up at us curiously.

"The paper isn't large enough." I retorted once I finished laughing.

Ivy roared with laughter and shook her head. "So, Vinnie tells me he told you and Scorp about what I did in Italy?"

I put my sketchbook down and looked at her. I kept a smile on my face so she knew I was joking but I wanted her to know I wasn't going to judge her.

"Yeah. . .was he an Italian Stallion or a European disaster?" I teased her. She put her arm through mine and moved closer so our sides were pressed closer, relishing in the warmth we both provided.

"Italian Stallion definitely. I thought you were kidding when you said it hurt like hell." Ivy frowned, obviously thinking over the pain her first time had caused.

"What was he like?"

"Meh. . .so, so. Nothing else to put him up againt." Ivy smirked and looked to me once more. "But if my plans go ahead . . . I'll have somebody to rank him against by the end of the week."

I felt my mouth fall open in shock. She was planning on having sex again?

"Who?"

Ivy didn't say anything; she just winked and turned her attention back to the practice.

I scowled, looked down to Scorpius and Vinnie and tried to send them a message with my eyes but it didn't work. Vinnie was too busy looking at Lily and Scorpius thought I was checking him out.

Well. . .I was, but I was trying to get a message across too.

When that failed, I looked back up to the practice and put my 'Slytherin chaser' hat on. I noticed that the passes between Lily, James and their other chaser who's name I didn't remember. I watched as Albus glided through the air, turning and twisting like his broom and his body was made of elastic. I bit my lip when I saw Hugo block every attempt at a goal.

I'll have to tell my captain to increase our defence for our match in February.

"Wow. . .Foxy got an arm on her." Ivy muttered when Roxanne knocked the non-Potter chaser out of the air with one clean hit.

I didn't say anything; I just continued to watch my family members practice. Lily and I were always the better chasers with James coming close. The three of us could all easily play at a professional standard . . . but Lily and James together are deadly. I gathered from their latest set of skills and team work that Aunt Ginny had been playing with them over the Christmas break.

Ivy and I watched in silence until the team finished and went in to shower.

"Hey guys, you coming to dinner?" Scorpius and Vinnie came to stand in front of us. I nodded and stood up, pulling Ivy with me. The four of us walked in silence down the rafters and on to the pitch. I rolled my eyes and sighed loudly when I saw several red-cloaked Gryffindors waiting for us.

Roxannne was waiting for Scorpius, which meant Dominique and Albus were. That meant James and Amy were waiting for them. Lily was waiting for Vinnie so that meant Hugo was waiting for her.

"Can't they find friends out of the family gene pool?" Ivy muttered.

I laughed once at that. "To be fair, two of your best friends are your brother and the guy you class as your brother. Besides, Lily and Hugo were raised as twins. Dom and James have always been close." I shrugged and thought back to when we were all younger and we all liked each other and Dom and James were closer than any of us.

Ivy didn't say anything, she just looked from me to James and then to Dominique slowly. I know her enough to know that she was thinking something over. Probably a plan to wind the two of them up.

"You two joining us at the Gryffindor table?" Vinnie asked, bringing Ivy and I into the conversation. I looked around my relatives and saw that it was only Albus and Roxanne who looked unhappy about that idea. Dominique looked indifferent, James wasn't even looking at me and Lily and Hugo were both smiling slightly.

"Sure, why not. Oh, Foxy, Dom there's going to be another lesson on Wednesday in Urquhart's room. Seven o'clock." I told the two of them.

"Going to be fun you teaching Lysander." Dominique joked awkwardly.

I rolled my eyes but couldn't help look at Scorpius for his reaction. He glared ahead of him and clenched his jaw tightly.

"Excuse me why I barf." Ivy scowled, surprising everybody. I looked back at her and saw her glaring over at where Dominique and James were standing.

Dominique didn't glare back; she just half-smiled and half-smirked.

"I'll see you three tonight." she muttered and pushed Roxanne and Amy out of her way. The ice around us seemed too slippy though and she ended up skidding. Luckily for her, James was closest and grabbed her before she would hit the floor. He straightened her up and made sure she was steady on her feet before he let go.

I looked to Lily briefly and saw her expression mirroring mine when we saw James keeping his hands on Ivy's arms longer than necessary.

"Stay the hell away from me, James!" Ivy snapped at him before she stormed off again, careful not to slip on the ice again.

Nobody said anything for a short while, we all just watched Ivy storm off to the castle.

"Come on Dom, I'm hungry." James muttered and put his arm through Dominique's to help her walk across the ice.

I didn't anticipate how awkward my potion sessions were going to be. The Hufflepuff's had actually made enough improvement that they didn't need to be here more than once a week. I think they improved so much because they were scared of me after Scorpius beat that Justin kid up before Christmas. The Ravenclaw's were improving and Craig Lambert, the only other Gryffindor, was actually most likely ready to not come back to the lessons.

Only Roxanne, Dominique and Lysander still really needed my help.

"You should dice your roots up instead of halving them." I told Lysander quietly. The three of them were round one table practicing a potion that we got tested on in our third year final exams while the Ravenclaw's, Hufflepuff's and Craig Lambert were practicing an OWL mock paper on the next table.

Lysander nodded his head once and started dicing up his roots like I instructed.

Normally I revelled in awkward situations, especially if I created them but in this one, I just wanted to get the hell out of here.

I corrected Roxanne, Dominique and Lysander when they needed it and then happily moved to the next table to go through the answers to the mock exam that the others were doing it. I told Craig Lambert that if he got Urquhart's permission he needn't come back for the next lesson and then when I said our session was over for the night, I was the first person out of the potions room.

I still needed to finish my DADA essay though, so I headed up the stairs in front of the others rather than going farther into the dungeons to head to my common room.

It was when I led the way up to the main hall when for the first time in years, James actually came up to speak to me.

He was sitting with a group of his friends, including Freddie and Molly, on the marble staircase and when I walked past them all he stood up and hurried up the stairs up after me. I saw Molly and Freddie look up from their positions on the stairs and look curious. Roxanne and Dominique stopped on the same stair and exchanged a brief look. Roxanne was glaring but Dominiuqe was looking like she wanted to laugh.

"What the hell do you want, Potter?" I straight away got defensive. Mainly because I was tired and couldn't be bothered to deal with his crap. I just wanted to go to the library, get my book and go back to the safety of my common room.

"Well. . .for you to drop the 'Potter,'" James told me honestly.

I looked up at the boy who I once saw as an older, protective brother with complete shock. For the past five years, James has actively goaded, ignored and practically abandoned me and now he wants to get along?

"Excuse me?" I looked down to where four of my other cousins were standing, expecting Albus, Louis and Lucy to come out and for this all to be a trick at my expense.

James stepped closer and spoke quieter, obviously aware of our audience as well. "I don't want to fight. I want my cousin back. If you're speaking to Lily again . . . then why not me too?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and for the first time in years, fully looked over James. He looked more like Harry than Ginny from afar but now that I was close enough to check his features out I can see my aunt and his sister in his face more than my uncle and his brother.

He has brown almond shaped eyes, the exact same eyes as Lily. His facial structure was similar to my fathers and he was tall like him too. Not only tall, but he was broad shouldered and muscular, like my uncle Charlie.

I can now clearly understand why most of the female population from third year and above in school fawn at his feet whenever he offers them a smile.

The smile he was giving me now actually made me smile a little; that hasn't changed. The three Potter kids all have the same smile. The corners of their mouths life up until their eyes are all crinkly and their noses wrinkle a little bit. They seem to find it impossible to not show off their white, square, perfectly shaped teeth.

"You expect me to forget the past five years because you're giving me a smile and because Lily is going out with my best friend?" I arched an eye brow and wiped the smile off of my face before it fully formed.

I saw the smile wipe from his face and an old, familiar feeling crept up and trapped me whole.

Guilt.

"Well. . .on Monday, we'll do something. Just the two of us and then I'll see." I promised him after a couple of awkward moments.

James grinned at me again, flashing his teeth, and nodded. "I'll see you on Monday for our C.D., Rosie."

He walked off before I could register that I'd just made my first cousin date in years. When we were younger, James and I used to say we'd marry each other. Dominique would always get jealous because she and James are closer than anybody else in the entire family so to satisfy her, James and I coded the play-dates we had as C.D.'s, Cousin Dates. Obviously that was before we were old enough to realise that, one; cousins couldn't date or marry each other because it is ethically wrong and two; by the time we were old enough to date . . . they all hated me.

"Hey! Don't call me Rosie, Jimbo!" I called after him, making him laugh out loud.

"Hey, you know if a guy rapes a girl?" Ivy mentioned as the two of us walked down from Transfiguration to lunch.

"Yeah."

"Do you think he wakes up thinking, 'I'm gonna rape somebody today?' or it's a spur of the moment thing?" Ivy asked curiously.

I looked at her with a laugh bit back in my mouth. Of course Ivy would ask questions like this.

"Well it depends on the situation - why?"

"Because there's some girls out there who are incredibly kinky. Like, just say this guy attacked this girl in the middle of the street," said Ivy as we stopped on a moving staircase. We were surrounded by third year Ravenclaw's who had just come from the charms corridor. "And he was thinking, 'ooh, this girl is struggling. Excellent.' but really she was thinking, 'oh my word, rape is actually pretty hot,' -"

"This is so in-appropriate." I muttered when I saw two young girls blush and exchange embarrassed looks one step below us.

"So my question is . . . would it be rape?" the staircase stopped so Ivy and I pushed the third years out of our way and headed down a shortcut.

I didn't answer straight away, I just thought about it for a second.

"I don't know, I've never thought about rape before -"

I stopped talking because of the sight in front of me.

My brother was being backed into a corner by two sixth year Ravenclaws. I couldn't remember their names but I obviously knew that they weren't the Scamander twins who were also sixth year Ravenclaws.

One of them snatched Hugo's bag from him and upturned it, spilling the contents everywhere. The other was about to smash his fist into Hugo's gut when he brought his leg up and smashed his shin into the guys junk. When he doubled over, Hugo shoved him into the guy with the bag so he smashed into the wall. Hugo quickly grabbed his belongings and bag and ran.

I don't know if he saw me or not.

I saw that he left a book on the floor so I went over to pick it up. The two guys were both sparked out against the wall. Apparently Hugo had been working out since he made the Quidditch team.

"In the eyes of the girl, it wouldn't be rape." I muttered, putting the book in my bag. "In the eyes of the sick bastard it would be."

Ivy didn't say anything, she just made a "huh" noise and nodded her head, leading me out of the secret passageway, the way my brother ran.

I looked back down at the two guys, memorising their faces so I could make it clear they were to leave my brother alone.

Why. . .why am I going to make it clear? Normally when I see Hugo getting into a scrape I either laugh or encourage it. Why now? Why is it different?

Are my family warming to me? Regretting their coldness and distance over the past five years? Has Lily and I speaking changed their minds? Has James extending the olive branch made a change on both sides of the feud?

After lessons and after dinner, I reminded Vinnie, Ivy and Scorpius of my plans to go for a walk around the school with James. Alone. The three were very surprised but they agreed to not join us if they seen us walking around the castle.

I watched while James ate his food and when he looked like he was nearly finished, I got up and left the table.

"Rose." I was stopped by Lysander's voice coming from the Ravenclaw table. He got up from where he was sitting with all of the guys from sixth and seventh year and headed over to me, a few feet away from the head of that table.

"What do you want?" I asked him. I had Hugo's book in my hand, intending to return it to him at the Gryffindor table and I couldn't help but grip hold of it tighter when I recognised the two idiots who cornered him earlier today.

"To be friends. Come on, we both jumped the wand a little bit." Lysander looked down at me through a friendly enough smile.

I looked from him to his friends, to a handful of my cousins at the Gryffindor table and then to my friends over at the Slytherin table.

His friends were either glaring at me or looking at Lysander through eyes with disbelief etched upon them. James was finishing his pudding, Albus sneering and Roxanne glaring daggers. Ivy was watching with a raised eyebrow, Vinnie didn't seem too bothered and Scorpius was glaring too.

"Yeah, we did. I'm sorry Lye. Friends?" I smiled up at him.

"Friends." Lysander nodded and grinned.

"Speaking of . . . who are they? The one with the black shaggy hair and blue eyes and the one with the buzzcut?" I nodded directly to his two friends who looked back at me defiantly.

"Uh. . .Jason Smith and Rodney Zacharia - why?" Lysander asked me quickly.

I just shook my head but looked at the two directly.

"I'll see you later, Lysander."

I headed over to the Gryffindor table and sat down in a space between Lily and Dominique. Although I have tormented Dominique the most actively over the years, she still is the better cousin to sit with. Even more so since Lucy and Molly avoid me like the plague when they can.

"Ready, Jimbo?" I arched an eyebrow and smirked when he shot me a mock glare at the nickname. "Oh. . .erm, I found this in a corridor earlier." I tossed the book over to where Hugo was sitting a few people away from James. Hugo looked at the book and then barely smiled at me.

"Thanks, Rose."

I looked over at Hugo while James finished his meal and everybody else brought up conversations around me. Over Christmas he seemed happy, relaxed and he looked like he was growing up. . .but now he looks worried and doesn't seem as relaxed as he did then.

I am going to make Rodney Zacharia and Jason Smith regret cornering my brother; I'm the only person who can make his life hell.

"So what are we doing then Rose?" James asked.

"We're going to spy on the Hufflepuff's practice. We're both playing them within the next month, come on."

I couldn't actually say that I didn't enjoy spending time with James. The two of us sitting underneath the bleachers in the quidditch stands, spying on the Hufflepuff's pitiful attempts to practice without the Dubbin sisters' brooms; it was actually like the past five years hadn't happened.

"So. . .this is where we go our separate ways." James muttered when we both walked into the entrance hall. One marble staircase that led the way to his common room and one stone staircase that led to mine.

I didn't say anything; I just looked at him through a blank face.

"So. . .if we see each other in the corridor or when our Dad's come back in next week -"

"Excuse me?"

"Our Dads . . . they're coming in for a talk next week again. . .didn't your mother tell you yesterday?" James referred to yesterday when my mother literally followed me around the entire castle. She had lunch with me, followed me to the library to do some work and then to the common room where I sat and messed with my camera until it was time for her to go.

"No, I don't normally pay attention to her when she talks to me." I shrugged and told him honestly. "I'm hoping she'll get the message and accept that I don't want to know her."

James bit his lip for a moment and thought over what he could say to me.

"Have you ever thought that by ignoring her, you're encouraging her? She's stubborn. She'll come every week if she has too."

I scowled at him.

"You think because we're friends again you can give me parenting advice?"

James just laughed and shook his head, beginning a slow walk backwards to the marble staircase. "I'll see you around Rosie."

"See ya Jimbo."

"So James told me he had fun with you." Lily mentioned from her spot beside Vinnie on one of the leather sofas in the common room. She'd been down here since lessons ended a few hours ago.

"That's nice." I muttered from my position on the floor. I was stretched out on the rug between the sofa her and Vinnie were sitting on and the one Scorpius and Ivy were sitting on. Those two were bickering about who broke Scorpius' quill.

"Did you have a good time?"

"Meh. It was alright." I shrugged and continued on writing my Charms essay out.

"James has been. . .different lately." Lily mused.

"It's called puberty Lily, you might go through it one day too - ouch!" I nursed my ribs from where Vinnie kicked me hard.

"No, I think he's met somebody. He went out with a few of his friends over Christmas break and I did the laundry the day after. His shirt stunk of perfume and there was lipstick marks on the collar and he's been disappearing off ever since that day. He takes the map so we can't see him too." Lily told me.

I finished my essay and stood up, putting it in my bag and then putting my bag over my shoulder. "Maybe he's gay and he's going off to have secret gay sex. I'm going for a bath - and you can copy somebody else's essay, Vinnie." I kicked him back in his leg as I walked past him.

Divination is the most pointless subject at this stupid school.

Four times a week I go to the stuffy attic, sit at a table by myself and either read up on some other class work or I read a magazine. I sometimes sleep for the hour. I've never handed in a piece of work and Professor Trelawney fails me. We have a system - but that doesn't excuse the subject from being pointless.

What makes it even worse, is that every single fifth year Gryffindor does Divination and there's only one other Slytherin who does it; Scorpius.

Normally Scorpius leaves me alone at the back of the classroom but this lesson he stopped me from walking past him by grabbing my arm and pulling me down on to a stool beside him. Around his table were Roxanne, Albus, Amy and Dominique.

Lovely.

Trelawney had already started talking so I couldn't interrupt her and walk to my chair anyway.

"This lesson is stupid." I pushed my china cup full of tea away from me when Trelawney finished speaking and handed the tea out.

"Why did you pick it then?" Dominique asked me in a snappish voice.

"I didn't! We chose Ancient Runes but someone got us kicked out!" I elbowed Scorpius, glaring at him.

In our third year, Vinnie, Scorpius, Ivy and I had the exact same time-table and that was great by us - until we jinxed the runes that we had to translate to become a tale made up of crude language. Apparently Professor Vector didn't appreciate having to explain to parents why their children were writing home and telling them about a medieval witch from the third century and her dirty, lesbian love affair with a Village healer's daughter. After that, the twins got sent to Muggle Studies and Scorpius and I got sent to 'How To Get a Qualification in Lying,'

"I was all for translating the runes into swear words but it's you who is fascinated with lesbian love affairs!" Scorpius joked. "Just come out of the closet already."

I snorted and laughed loudly at that; ignoring the looks from the angry teacher and annoyed Gryffindors.

"You'd love that. Tell you what, I'll come out if you confess to everybody I caught you touching yourself over a pair of Albus' boxers -"

"Yeah that's why I was touching myself. Couldn't have anythingto do with you sleeping several feet away from me every night for two weeks." Scorpius got the last laugh.

I had to admire his nerve; telling the truth even though the truth would get the two of us in deep trouble.

I settled for just laughing and winking at Scorpius.

The slam of the dorm room door made me look up from my laundry. Janey, Bella and Emily were all lounging over their own beds and Ivy was nowhere to be seen around the castle again; which meant she wouldn't be back until around midnight.

"Get the hell out!" I yelled at Roxanne who was standing in the doorway. Dominique was behind her, looking a little uncomfortable.

"No. Not until I've had my say." Roxanne snapped, walking further into the room and slamming the door once she pulled Dominique in. I didn't bother getting off of my bed but I took a calm look over the two of them.

Dominique was here for back up; she may be a bit ditzy and hopeless at Potions, but she was super fast with her wand. Her wand which she was gripping in her hand.

"Fair enough. May I ask what the hell you're harping on about though?" I picked a pile of clean underwear up and carried them over to my trunk.

"You and Scorpius. What's going on?" Roxanne asked straight away.

I froze mid-fold of my knickers but then carried on folding them.

"Well. . .we're friends. Today we had breakfast and then we -"

"Are you seeing my boyfriend?" Roxanne slammed my trunk down and got my full attention.

I slowly got up so I was standing and tossed my underwear back on to my bed.

"No." I lied.

"I am tired of you two making all of these sex jokes around me -"

"Then dump him. Or make him choose. You or me."

"Exactly, you won't make him choose because you're afraid of who he will pick." I took a step closer and scoffed when Dominique stepped closer to Roxanne too. "Now, get the hell out of our room. You're outnumbered here . . . and I'm a Slytherin, Roxanne, and we stick together."

As I said this, Janey, Emily and Bella all got off of their beds and came to stand by my side or behind Roxanne and Dominique; completely out numbering them. Even if Dominique could handle herself in a duel, they'd still be over powered.

Dominique tugged on Roxanne's hand and urged her towards the door but Roxanne pulled her hand away.

"I mean it, Rose, I've had enough. You're not as close or as pally-pally with Lily's boyfriend. Stop it."

After Roxanne 'warned' me away from her boyfriend, I couldn't help but notice that she tried her hardest to make her presence known whenever Scorpius and I were together. In the common room, she and Lily would stay until Scorpius and Vinnie went up to bed, or the boys would be in her common room. At Quidditch practice, she was there, in the corridors she was there, in the classes we shared together, she sat herself beside Scorpius - we couldn't even sit next to each other at meal times.

When Ivy and I were dragged over to the Gryffindor table to eat Sunday lunch with James and Vinnie and Lily though, I finally snapped.

Scorpius went to sit down beside me and opposite Ivy. Ivy was sitting next to Fred so he thought Roxanne would appreciate sitting close to her brother, but she literally pulled him further down the table.

"For fuck sake, Roxanne!" I slammed my fork down and stood up from the table. "If I wanted to bang your boyfriend, I'd have done it by now. He was in my bedroom for two weeks at Christmas and we're in the same house! Stop being so bloody possessive!"

I pushed my plate away and stormed out of the hall. I ignored the looks and the yells from James, Ivy, Lily and Vinnie and just stormed my way around the castle, pushing and shoving people away from me. I didn't even care that I saw my mother walking in a corridor with Professor Longbottom during my heated walk. Of course she'd be here today, it's Sunday. I turned on my heel and ran through as many secret passageways as possible.

I don't even remember getting to a part of the castle only a handful of people know about; opposite the Ravenclaw tower there is a secret door hidden by a brick wall. That door leads to a room which has a stairway which leads to a balcony. I usually sit up here in the summer with Scorpius, Ivy and Vinnie while we're skipping lessons and getting drunk but. . .I don't even know why I came here now.

I just rested against the metal rails, letting the cold air nip into my face and my hair blow around my head.

"Rosie. . ."

I wasn't surprised by Scorpius' voice. I half expected him or Vinnie or Ivy to find me up here, in the place that only four of us know about.

"If you're here to tell me that your girlfriend is misunderstood or something save it." I muttered and focused on the site hundreds of feet below me. Two students were sitting and cuddling against a wall of the castle; oblivious to the cold and the misery all around them.

"I'm not. . ."

"Good. Because I can't stand hearing you praise her." I admitted. I didn't even know I was carrying a heavy burden on my shoulders until I said this and the weight was lifted.

"She's not that bad -"

"I didn't mean it that way -"

"Yes you did!" Scorpius shook his head and came to stand beside me, mirroring my body language and resting his arms against the railings. "You love to slag her off and talk shit about her. You hate people talking her up, and Dom and Albus too. You don't even care if the older or younger cousins like you. It's them three you hate. No wonder they're so bitter towards you."

I felt as if he punched me in the stomach.

I'm bitter?

I'm jealous of Roxanne?

"You can't even deny it. Rose. . .you and I. . .it cannot and will not happen again. I'm with Roxanne and that's how it is." Scorpius stepped away from the railings.

"I didn't mean it that way, Malfoy." I didn't look at him as I spoke. I just looked down at the couple in the grounds, trying to see if I could see who they were.

"I meant I can't stand to hear you talk her up because I hate hearing you talk about girls that way when they're not me." my voice choked up at the end and before I knew it, my cheeks were wet with tears. "But if I'm bitter and jealous of your bitch of a girlfriend then fuck you." I turned away from the railing and glared at Scorpius.

"Fuck you Malfoy. It's obvious now. . .we used each other. We had an itch and we scratched it. Well, you weren't even that good of a scratcher." I shoved past him and stormed down the stairs, out of the secret room and then ran from the Ravenclaw tower.

I pushed past students roughly, not caring if they hit other students, the walls, teachers or the floor. I ran until my legs gave up and more cold fresh air hit me. I collapsed against the nearest wall

"There you are," I looked up from the floor where I was focusing on as I tried to get oxygen back into my lungs when I heard my mother's voice. She was standing looking out into the sky. We were in the astronomy classroom.

"Mum. . ." I stood up and tried to discreetly wipe away some fresh tears but I wasn't quick enough.

"Oh, Rosie. . .what's wrong?" Mum was at my side in an instant.

What I did probably surprised both of us. I didn't ever expect to do it. She probably never expected me to do that to her, not in a million years. I personally never even entertained the thought of doing it to my mother.

"Oh, Mum!" I wrapped my arms around her middle and let the tears and the sob in my throat out.

Thoughts?